The Socialist Party has always admitted that in its heyday capitalism was a progressive force. The lure for profits in the unlimited markets of the world stimulated the capitalist class to expand and industrialise the means of production. It encouraged science and invention to make possible the mass production of an abundance of commodities. It is true that in its progressive stage capitalists still robbed the workers of the product of its labour, just as it does to day.
THE WORKING CLASS IS PAID IN WAGES ONLY A SMALL PART OF THE VALUES IT PRODUCES.
But then there was historic compensation for the robbery. The technological means for ultimately abolishing poverty from the face of the earth were being perfected. This reason for putting up with exploitation no longer exists. Poverty stalks the land – but not because of any lack of technology. Capitalism’s octopus grip of production is never released except when there is profit to be made. That is how “progressive” the capitalist system has become. So the wheels of industry stop turning and remain practically motionless until the blessings of business bank-balance rewards the investors. There is plenty of wear and tear on the human machine. Steadily the worker is depleted of ones power to labor. As we gets older we are threatened with “obsolescence” and are finally supplanted by a younger worker.
Every time the world enters a crisis, it also lets loose a great avalanche of beautiful promises for a post-crisis paradise on earth, of peace and good will. This abundance of empty promises is supposed to make up for working peoples self-sacrifice and shortages in happiness and the other necessities of life. After the pandemic ends, some are calling for the “Great Re-set”, a false slogan stirring only false hopes. Even the most starry-eyed should be disillusioned. Capitalism is far from altruistic and compassion and empathy is not how it operates. It is time for the workers to laugh in the faces of the demagogues of all political shades, with their windy promises to do this and that. Labour doesn’t need anybody to do anything for it – and furthermore nobody will do anything for labour. Labour can and must get on its own. It has the numbers, it has the industrial power. It needs only to cut the strings that keeps it dancing for the puppeteers.
What is needed is not a change of personnel at the controls but that the working peoples of the world must replace the rulers. This means the death of capitalism and the birth of socialism. Power and profit – the motive force of capitalism – will then perish. The peoples of the world will be able to produce their goods and use their resources ACCORDING TO THEIR HUMAN NEEDS. The wheels of industry has never ever ran for the people. If any one thing stands out above all else in the climate crises, it is the fundamental anarchy of the capitalist system. It is just impossible to make the profit system work in accordance with a plan. The purpose of production remains the same – how much is there in it for the controllers of commerce! Solutions to global warming have been side-tracked or, if adopted, it has been done in such an emasculated form as not to hurt the profit motives of the bosses. The profit system, you see, recognises no plans. It has one unshakable purpose: PRIVATE GAIN.
Economic crises have been marked by great abundance of productive resources, both capital and human – BUT UNUSED RESOURCES. That is the socialist indictment against capitalist anarchy. People starve in the midst of plenty because capitalism is geared to production for private profit. THE ONLY WAY OUT FOR THE WORKERS IS THROUGH SOCIALISM because all resources would be owned in common. But when a capitalist government proposes to go on a spending binge, the question always is: “Where will the money come from?” This again shows how capitalist economists are caught in a vicious circle. These capitalist politicians and economists – with their grandiose but futile plans – dare not face the fact that all future progress lies on the road to socialism. All of society’s problems arise from a common cause – the concentration of industrial and political power in the hands of the few against the many. The future can be shaped by the workers in their own interests and the interest of the whole of society. To cut loose from the capitalist class, to step out into independent political action to supplant the useless capitalist class in the ownership and control of production. Modern production – which has been built up through the ages from the ingenuity of all mankind – can be released for the peaceful uses of people only by freeing it from the stranglehold of the political and industrial rulers of the world. Socialism will accomplish this next step in human progress.
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